Tarantula (Old West, Watcher Datafile)
TARANTULA Clay Riley secret Clay Riley's subconscious need for funds (perhaps to pay for a wedding for his ﬁancee. Natalie Brooks), combined with some trauma, caused him to develop a dissociative identity disorder, manifesting a second persona willing to steal and kill. Taking the identity of the Tarantula, he recruited a criminal gang and tried to extort protection money from his hometown, Bison Bend, Colorado. A crack of his "Tarantula's Sting“ swiftly cowed the townspeople. Only Ben Brooks. NataIie‘s brother, stood up to the gang but was swiftly overpowered. After the Phantom Rider (Carter Slade) shot the TarantuIa's whip off its handle, Tarantula took Natalie hostage, but the Rider rescued her and the gang fled. Brooks was elected sheriff for his bravery. He and the Phantom Rider clashed multiple times, eventually leading to a confrontation that would nearly paralyze his fiancee Natalie. As the Tarantula, Riley dressed in purplish-black and used an eight-headed bullwhip as his weapon of choice, which he was extremely proficient with. Aside from delivering a painful lash, he could ensnare small objects, and bind others. He was quick enough that in almost every case, he could disarm an opponent before they could get a single shot off. He was also a proficient horseman and gunslinger. As Tarantula, Riley took on a completely different persona, and even changed his speech. Clay Riley was the perfect gentleman, while the Tarantula was one ornery cuss. He had no memory of his actions as the Tarantula once his mission was complete. Later, he merged the personalities, but ended up as the nastier version. Riley, now retired from his Tarantula identity, headed up Riley mining, which made a profit from multiple copper mines. Seeking to gain further wealth from similar mines in the town of Wonderment, Montana Riley hired Kid Cassidy and outfitted a bunch of owlhoots as the Nightriders to drive out the residents of the town. Affiliations Solo D8, Buddy D4, Team D6 Distinctions Split Personality, Clay Riley: Business Owner, Perfect Gentleman, Tarantula: Masked Outlaw, Tarantula's Sting Power Sets MASKED OUTLAW Enhanced Accuracy D8, Enhanced Reflexes D8, Enhanced Stamina D8 SFX: Crazy Deadly. At no cost, add existing mental/emotional stress to any dice pool including a XXX power, then step up mental/emotional stress by +1. SFX: Horsemanship. When creating horse-related stunts, step up or double your stunt die. SFX: Lose It. Add a doom die to an attack action. After that action, step back the doom die and return it to the doom pool. SFX: Marksman. If a pool includes Weapon, you may replace two dice of equal size with one die +1 step larger. Limit: Exhausted. Shutdown a Masked Outlaw power to step up the lowest die in the doom pool, or add a D6 doom die. Activate an opportunity or participate in a Transition Scene to recover. Limit: Split Personality. When you recover all of your emotional stress and trauma, shutdown Masked Outlaw and revert to Clay Riley Distinctions to add a D6 doom die, or step up the lowest die in the doom pool. Take emotional stress to recover Masked Outlaw. TARANTULA’S STING Weapon D8, Swingline D6 SFX: Disarm. Spend a D8 from the doom pool to trigger the Gear Limit of an opponent and disarm him or her of a hand-held weapon or object at any time. SFX: Grapple. When inflicting a grapple-based complication on a target, add a D6 and step up your effect die. SFX: Smoking Gun. Step up or double your Weapon die for one action. After that action, step back Weapon. Activate an opportunity to recover. Limit: Gear. Shutdown a Tarantula’s Sting power or SFX to step up the lowest die in the doom pool, or add a D6 doom die. Activate an opportunity to recover. Specialties Acrobatics Expert D8, Wilderness Expert D8, Clay Riley: Business Expert D8, Tarantula: Combat Expert D8, Crime Expert D8, Menace Expert D8 Category:Datafile Category:Watcher Datafile Category:Old West Category:Nightriders